I. Introduction
Second language learners often encounter linguistic problems as evidenced in the errors they make in the process of learning another language. Because errors regularly occur in the language classrooms, students and teachers often find themselves confronting with error correction. Error correction, which is also called corrective feedback or negative feedback (Ortega, 2008), has become a topic of great interest to me because of my own experience as a multilingual language learner learning two languages (English and Tagalog) simultaneously as a child in addition to my L1, which is Cebuano. My own experience as an ESL teacher for nine years has also prompted me to read the literature on this topic. The review of literature found in the next pages reveals that most studies addressing this issue were conducted in various settings particularly in inner and expanding circle countries like the U.S. Canada, and Japan. However a study, investigating Filipino ESL students’ attitude toward error correction was never found and reported in any of the various ELT and SLA journals. It is therefore the goal of this paper to supply this gap in the literature.
In this paper, I would like to investigate the issue of error correction with the goal in mind of being able to contribute to the growing number of studies on error correction and to report how Filipino ESL students and teachers perceive error correction. To that end, this paper posed the following questions:
1. What are the attitudes of university freshman students and their teachers towards oral error correction?
2. What similar and different attitudes do students and teachers have towards oral error correction?
3. Is there a significant difference in terms of stu...
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...s perceive interactional feedback? Studeies in Second Language Acquisition, 22, 471-498.
Ortega, (2008)
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499) Immediately, the inappropriate use of his language distances me from continuing to read. The tone of this statement comes off as one-sided and stubborn. Rather than approaching the statement in a scholarly fact, Wiens down plays the intelligence of his work with an ignorant remark. Also, when Wiens mentioned stocking shelves requires grammar proficiency, which is not true in most cases. Again, he doesn’t have creditable information to back up his claim. To make his statement credible, Wiens should have included a study based off of various shelf stocking hiring processes. This hiring process could have included what specific skill set or educational background a company requires their employees to obtain. Additionally, this study could have been collaborated with top warehouse companies in the United States with quotes and numerical information. Wiens said, “I’ve found that people who make fewer mistakes on a grammar test also make fewer mistakes when they are doing something completely unrelated to writing- like stocking shelves or labeling parts.” (p. 499) Additionally, my best friend’s dad, Justin, is an immigrant from Cambodia who has trouble with English grammar. He immigrated to the United States on June of 1992. Justin has been working at an inventory warehouse for nearly nine years. Sine working at the warehouse, he learned to verbally communicate in English and is coherent to the language. However, he lacks an understanding of written English grammar. Although, for Justin’s specific job title, he doesn’t need to distinguish the difference between to and too. The relevance of this example displays the unimportance of the English grammar in certain jobs. Otherwise, Justin would have been terminated within the first few months on the job for continuing to make costly mistakes. Additionally, my second job was a sales associate at a boutique and the
Williams claims that errors of grammar and usage are the most complex topics, which have been easily misunderstood by many people in our world today. Whether the grammar has to do specifically with literature or not, it has always obtained errors. William notably supports his claim by giving specific examples of professionals who have stated grammatical errors according to what they think is “right.” William also provided some personal experience and textual evidence to express credibility and accuracy of his argument. William’s argument is effective because the main points he focused on with evidence were powerful and stood out to the audience. The real life examples that William demonstrated to the audience gave a strong base to his argument because he showed how grammar errors actually exist in our society. He made it evident that the audience had their eyes opened to topic that had been ignored in the past. William achieved his argument by providing real life situations and by looking at various researches that analyzed the existence of errors in grammar. However, the ways that William could have made his argument more effective is by not having comments that seemed too self- indulgencing. Also he could have taken out evidence like the graphs that didn’t make
Hill, Jane H., P. J. Mistry, and Lyle Campbell. The Life of Language: Papers in Linguistics in Honor of William Bright. Berlin [etc.: Mouton De Gruyter, 1998. Print.
Every year, the number of immigrants in the U.S. has grown “significantly.” Chen predicts that by the year of 2020, public schools will have at least 50 percent of students that are non-English speakers (¶5). This shows that it is important that public schools have a successful ESL program. The purpose of ESL programs is “to enhance” ESL students learning, to help students’ “emotional well-being”, and to accelerate students’ ability to learn the new language. According to Chen, some district schools have failed to support ESL students’ learning. For example, Chen stated that “...[some] school districts [have been] accused of not meeting t...
What students need is encouragement and an environment where they can grow. If continuously told that they are incorrect they will feel ostracized, and will be afraid to take the steps necessary to improve themselves in reading and writing in standard English. Rather than making students ashamed of their language, we should seek to teach a transition from that language into Standard English.
Cerjak ,The English Journal, Vol. 76, No. 5 (Sep., 1987), pp. 55-57 Published by: National Council of Teachers of English
Before coming into English 1101, I was pretty confident in my grammar abilities. However, during the beginning of the semester, I failed to spot some simple grammar mistakes due to my carelessness which significantly hurt the essay’s legitimacy. I learned to spend more time editing my papers with more cautiousness of these errors. Peer editing other classmates’ paper helped me learn about my own mistakes, because I learned to spend more time on it, providing more insightful feedback. The peer review exhibit demonstrates my growth on finding these errors. After identifying the errors, I gave the author suggestions to how she could improve her
Speech errors serve as a window to investigate speech production and arrangement of language elements in the brain. Gary S. Dell and Peter A. Reich (1980) said that one of the best way to find out how a system is constructed is if that system breaks. Speech errors as a linguistic phenomenon has been the topic of many linguistic researches. It can be investigated as an evidence for linguistic change as well. Bussmann and Hadumod (1996) in the Routledge dictionary of language and linguistics defines speech errors as " (Latin: lapsus linguae), is a deviation (conscious or unconscious) from the apparently intended form of an utterance." (449).
Andrew Sampson states that total proscription of mother tongue is detrimental to some extent, suggesting that code switching of mother tongue and English, under a good strategy of control, is useful for academic needs and even communicating purposes by concluding, “The results of this study suggest that code-switching is not necessarily connected to learners’ ability level and rarely signals an unwillingness to communicate in L2, but rather serves communicative classroom functions such as expressing equivalence, discussing procedural concerns, floor holding, reiterating concepts, and forming group relationships” (302). Code-switching not only improves the learner’s proficiency in English, but also allows the students to learn. In most cases, English language is meant for English-speaking students’ at level L2 or L3. Therefore, teachers should help non-native English-speaking students to code-switch in their communications. Code switching would improve the learner’s ability to identify his or her mistakes and correct those mistakes while she or he continues to learn English. At the same time, if possible, the teachers might use code switching to illustrate particular concepts and subjects. In other words, the teachers themselves can use the learner’s L1 or any other language to explain concepts or offer examples on the subjects in the learner’s L1. However, the teachers should avoid using oversimplified English words and vocabularies. This is because such approach would not help the learner to perfect his or her English
Poulisse, N. (2000), Slips of the tongue in first and second language production. Studia Linguistica, 54 (2) 136–149. doi: 10.1111/1467-9582.00055
In the twentieth century, the avoidance of the using L1 in classrooms dominated teachers’ minds; as well it was implemented in many policies and guidelines of language teaching (Cook, 2001). Thornbury (2010) listed a set of arguments against using L1 in L2 classrooms mainly for that the translation of L2 into another language will play negative effects on students’ learning process. He pointed out that the use of L1 will result learners to have a cognitive dependence on their mother tongue at the expense of developing independence TL learning. Although the two language systems are not equivalent in many aspects, students may have an awareness of the notion of equivalence of the two languages if translation serves to convey meanings. Some argue that the use of translation to convey the meaning of the TL is more efficient and more memorable. However, Thornbury (2010) sees the opposite. He stated that the simple and direct way of translation will make L2 knowledge less memorable since the process lacks mental efforts in working out meanings.
Wolter. B. (2001). Comparing the L1 and L2 Mental Lexicon. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 23:41-69.
Schachter, Jacquelyn. Some semantic prerequisites for a model of language. Brain & Language. Vol 3(2) 292-304, Apr 1976.
Stojkovic, S., & Lovell, R. (2013). Corrections: An introduction. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc
As English wasn’t their first language, I noticed that some students struggled to express themselves and put their ideas across. However, in order to tackle this issue, I would see what direction they were going in and would then suggest words to help them structure a sentence or if it was a complicated sentence, they would use a translator app. This loosely links to the cooperative principle because when English isn’t somebody’s first language and they make speech errors, I tend to ignore them and carry on the conversation. One of the reasons why I don’t mention that they have created an error is because the speaker may feel embarrassed about their mistake. On the other hand, I might also help them if I notice that they are struggling with their